User talk:Mikemacdee
/Archive 1/ Writing Advice Blog Hi Mike. Can I add your blog about perspectives to the writing advice blogs? It's a great insight and I think it would be a great fit. Oh, also I archived your talk page to make it more tidy. MrDupin (talk) 23:27, October 26, 2016 (UTC) :Great, thanks. I added the blog to the list. :For future reference, you can archive your talk page by doing the following: :1) Create a page titled "User talk:Mikemacdee/Archive X" without the quotes (where 'X', you put the appropriate number). :2) Cut-Paste the content from your talk page to the new archive. :3) Link to your archive from your talk page by adding /Archive X/ at the top. :That's pretty much it. Have a good one. MrDupin (talk) 11:11, October 27, 2016 (UTC) Publishing Hey Mike, I've been suffering a lot of ill fortune lately on getting properly published (and I've hardly been setting my sights high!). I'd appreciate it if at some point I could get a review on one of my stories from you. I'm at that stage where I'd like to face my biggest flaws and would appreciate the opportunity to make some real progress. Needless to say I'd be very thankful if I could get your thoughts on one of my stories. I'll suggest The Witch & The Fatso but if you'd rather invest your time in another one of my stories feel free to. ChristianWallis (talk) 18:40, November 16, 2016 (UTC) :Hey, I'd rather either The Witch & The Fatso or, perhaps, Ixodida but preferably not my most recent story Cuculidae which, while I found to be an enjoyable writing exercise, is not something I'd consider to be all that good ChristianWallis (talk) 11:13, November 18, 2016 (UTC) :Hey, I'm going to be a real pain in the ass and ask for feedback on one more story. I've experienced regret over suggesting The Witch & The Fatso because much of your critique focused on the plot/structure. I'm unlikely to ever revisit that two-part structure and would appreciate your thoughts on either Ixodida or I Have Always Been a Monster which don't share the same meandering format. Ixodida is +5000 words while I have always been a monster is closer to 4000. Considering that you took the time out to review one of my stories already and I'm asking for another one I'd like to offer to review another one of yours so we break even on two reviews each. Actually, I recently did a blog post going very in-depth on Jay ten's Ned story here. The only other story that I've so far considered approaching in a similar way was Jozsa's Grove. Would you be interested in an analysis like the one in my blog, or would you rather me review a different story in a similar way to what I did with The Laughing Desert? ChristianWallis (talk) 16:08, November 21, 2016 (UTC) :That sounds awesome. Very much appreciated ChristianWallis (talk) 19:05, November 21, 2016 (UTC) :Jozsa's review is done! ChristianWallis (talk) 16:25, November 24, 2016 (UTC) :Hey, I'm in a similar situation too. Feel free to take as much time as you need. I was hoping to look at Carbon River today but it might end up being tomorrow depending on how work goes ChristianWallis (talk) 09:02, December 2, 2016 (UTC) ::Whew! I finally got around to it! I posted the review as a comment on the article of Carbon River. Sorry for the delay; things have been hectic with Christmas coming up ChristianWallis (talk) 17:23, December 15, 2016 (UTC) doing okay You're sweet. I'm pretty well healed, on desk duty for now though. Bored out of my mind ☠️ Azariahx (talk) Follow-up I happened to be looking over a blog from a year ago (http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Creeper50/Why_is_this_a_trend%3F) and I re-read a comment you made about a fourth grader who was dragging down the entire class, if not the entire school. Out of curiosity, do you know whatever became of that situation? Raidra (talk) 01:07, December 15, 2016 (UTC) :Fair enough. Earlier today I thought, "He'd be in fifth grade now," and then I realized that no, he should still be in fourth. If they promoted him to fifth, then that school system has failed those students big time. Raidra (talk) 20:53, December 16, 2016 (UTC) Re: Review Hey, thanks for the helping me out with the feedback. It's much appreciated and gives me a lot to work with. Sorry it took me so long to get to Carbon River but I think we've both been pretty busy what with the holiday period. Anyways, have a good Christmas! ChristianWallis (talk) 09:05, December 21, 2016 (UTC) Email Hey Mike. I would like to ask you something offsite. Could you send me an email at mrdupincp@gmail.com? MrDupin (talk) 20:42, February 11, 2017 (UTC) Stories Hi Mike, Jay recently asked me to contact you about the possibility of hosting some of your stories on his new wikia, The Horror Network. You'd have your own categories, and would also be invited to interviews. I know Jay would like to get in touch you with directly but he doesn't have your email so he's asked me this favour. If you could email him at jtenney27 at hotmail.com it'd be much appreciated. If there's anything else you'd like to know just drop me a message. Hope everything's been well with you ChristianWallis (talk) 13:21, May 23, 2017 (UTC) Noticed Hi Mike, So, I was over at Amazon to checkout Humboldt's new novel, after seeing Creepy Thomas' blog for it, and I noticed that you finally released the second book for your Agent Juno series. I was surprised to see that it already been out for about month. I went in to get one book, but I came out getting two lol. Just wanted to let you know I'm excited to continue the series, having enjoyed the first book, and look forward to reading the second. Vngel W (talk) 14:06, July 28, 2017 (UTC) Youtube Interview Hi mike! Would love to have you on! Just let me know when's good for you and I can work something out. I'm GMT so we'll just have to work around that if you're in a different timezone. Just drop me an email @ insertpastapunhere@gmail.com if its easier! Thanks, Simon Werewolf story contest Hi Mike. I wanted to let you know that there is a werewolf story contest going on and I'd love to see a story from one as talented as yourself. Deadline isn't until Oct 25th. It's in the admin blog section, you can't miss it. HumboldtLycanthrope (talk) 18:19, September 26, 2017 (UTC) RE:Discord Simply go here , make an account if you don't have one, and that should be it. I'll see to make a separate chat for collab only. The Star is falling Greet the First Dawn! 08:24, September 28, 2017 (UTC) Review Hey, pretty busy atm but I'd be happy to do it. Probably going to be at least a week though, got a new job on atm and it's fucking crazy. Also, don't worry about gifting them. I'm a firm believer in supporting artists so I just picked up two physical copies on Amazon. They'll be getting to me on Monday and I'll start reading them then. Hope things are going well with you. I'm sure I'll be bugging you sometime in the future for feedback myself but it won't be any time soon since I've got little/no time for writing lately ChristianWallis (talk) 11:06, September 28, 2017 (UTC) RE: Collab Entry I would personally wait until the project was finalized. That's up to you, though. Your Friendly Neighborhood Toddler (talk) 12:06, September 28, 2017 (UTC) Re: Hey thanks, Mike, it was a lot of fun to do. Look forward to hearing yours! Shadowswimmer77 (talk) 12:27, September 28, 2017 (UTC) Windigo Stories Hey Mikemacdee. If you're wondering about the wendigo story, it started originally from a writer's prompt on this reddit contest. I was hoping to get some subject on elves or something more weird. Instead I get some cursed gun prompt so I went with it and came up with this story. --Mmpratt99 deviantart (talk) 16:31, September 28, 2017 (UTC) Re: Windigos Wendigos seemed to range from yeti-like giants to shape-shifting spirits who are nearly being godlike in power depending on the various legends. The same seem to go with skinwalkers. --Mmpratt99 deviantart (talk) 00:56, October 2, 2017 (UTC) Hey There Hey, just wanted to say thanks for the words of support on the Slimebeast blog thing. It has been getting a bit too much with all the hate we have been getting the past few months, and I know I am susceptible to reacting inappropriate, but it's good to know some people haven't totally turned on us. Anyway, that is all. Cheers! MrDupin (talk) 17:52, September 30, 2017 (UTC) :EDIT: I would have written this on the blog thread, but I don't want to risk inciting any more reactions. MrDupin (talk) 17:53, September 30, 2017 (UTC) New Wicker Story Hey, Mike! If you have the time and inclination I’d appreciate your feedback on my latest story Sins of the Father. Hope all’s well! Shadowswimmer77 (talk) 12:56, October 1, 2017 (UTC) And the winner is... So from everyone comment in the trash section of the slim beast post, you seem to be the only one to make any valid points. I may disagree with the QS bits, they may need to be a little stricter in my opinion, but that's besides the point. Your points were logical and pretty extroverted, which is a relief compared to what everyone else had been putting there. Therefore, you've won the argument in my eyes. Best, JohnathanNash (talk) 01:38, October 2, 2017 (UTC) Ganymede Smells! Hey, finished the first Juno book last night and just posted my review. I could go much more in-depth at another time if you'd like, but I kept the Amazon review punchy and sincere. I don't think anyone reads those things for in-depth critique. I also avoided giving away the core premise because I don't see it in any of the novel's descriptions but I think you should be shouting that from a mountaintop. It's a unique and interesting hook and it might get more people to bite than the current description that seems to skirt around the whole 'misandrist matriarchy' setting. Overall though, I really enjoyed the first Juno book. I have two main criticisms - the first is that some of your writing is a bit laborious on describing environment and character details. Obviously there needs to be a sweet spot; your characters are some of the best parts, and the environmental descriptions often come into play in action scenes. But some of them could still be snappier. I don't think Io, for example, needed such an explicit physical description. Sometimes I think you could get away with trusting the audience a bit more. The second is pacing, the story is very slow until Juno physically steps foot onto the train. I'm hoping this won't be a recurring problem now the world is established, but your greatest strength is action so I think you should be wary of going too long without something to hold the reader's attention. I'll start the second one soon but I haven't got a lot of free time yet ChristianWallis (talk) 09:19, October 23, 2017 (UTC) Ganymede Yeah I just checked and it didn't cross-post the uk post to the US site. I just copied the review across and now there's my review on the US site but it's also double posted it to the UK one. I'm not sure what Amazon will think of that but I find it strange it doesn't cross-post UK to US for verified customers. Oh well! Also, love the new description. ChristianWallis (talk) 08:40, October 24, 2017 (UTC) Reviews and Such Hey, yeah I've been a bit bogged down with work and shit. How's your new job going? Mine's been keeping me insanely busy. Black Library has an open submissions session till the 10th April so I'm going to try and go for that since I'm a mega wh40k fan but I seriously doubt it'll lead to anything. It's just me and like 8 billion other neckbeards so I'm not sure it'll fall in my favour. It's just the only thing going on for me right now. I'm going to take the time out soon to go through Kingdom of Famine and put together a review. I really enjoyed the last one and do want to get around to the next, but I haven't had as much time or energy to read as I'd like. I'm getting home later with this new job and it leaves me pretty buggered ChristianWallis (talk) 15:45, January 11, 2018 (UTC) Party at Opis' House! Fuck, that was a good book. I picked it up on Wednesday and finished it last night. So I’m not sure there’s much higher praise than saying your book displaced Zelda Breath of the Wild as my 90 minutes of recreation each night. But let’s try and get down to brass tacks. So you moved on from the agonising world building and I felt like you put more time into what mattered. Karla was a superb villain. Just brilliant. The perfect balance of pathetic enough to sympathise with but also pathetic enough to hate with a psychology that made a lot of sense. Your action scenes were spot on, fun, well-choreographed, with easy to grasp geography and visceral language. I don’t believe I’ve read better action in fiction. I can’t recall sitting upright and following the words so closely in an action scene since I first read the chase scene in Shadow Over Innsmouth. I also felt that the matriarchy-themes and family-themes were much more cohesive than last time. Not necessarily deeper, but just neater and better constructed. Normally I’d reserve the more personal review to say the negative stuff that I wouldn’t put in an Amazon review. But I guess I’ll just use it to say the more sincere stuff that wouldn’t work there. But you’re a fucking great writer. You might not be Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Murakami, but you’re still a fucking great writer and the jump in quality from book 1 to book 2 took me by surprise. It’s hard being a writer and I hope you keep on trucking and if I ever win the lottery I’ll be buying the film rights to Juno in a heartbeat but for now I’ll just say that I think it’s a fucking travesty this wasn’t picked up by a publisher. This isn’t some favour-for-favour sentiment. It’s just me being honest. This is a fucking good book. The Amazon review will be going up sometime today or tomorrow. ChristianWallis (talk) 12:33, January 20, 2018 (UTC) Review request Hey Mike, It’s been a while since I’ve written anything and feel a little rusty. That being said, I have a story in the WW if you’d be willing to take a look at it. It’s called Papa Legba. If you get a chance, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, JohnathanNash (talk) 05:29, February 7, 2018 (UTC) Thanks Mike. I will have to look it over again. The main thing I was trying to do was tag on Mivhael Nemeth, and I was having more fun making him look like a cock sucker than worrying about the mechanics of the story. Any, that’s some good advice, and I’ll see ignorance I can change it up and make it so it will be able to fit in the word limit. Best, JohnathanNash (talk) 17:23, February 7, 2018 (UTC) Commission Yeah sure, I'd be glad to help! Just send me the 40 pages when you can and I'll do my thing. I'm in between modules at my University so I have a bit more free time ChristianWallis (talk) 11:27, March 10, 2018 (UTC) Email It's wallis_cj@hotmail.com ChristianWallis (talk) 16:06, March 11, 2018 (UTC) Expanded Version Yeah, send me the expanded version. I'd rather I give you meaningful feedback rather than something that's outdated even if it means I have to go back over it ChristianWallis (talk) 10:57, March 19, 2018 (UTC) Feedback I'll send you some notes today/tomorrow on what I thought overall. Long story short though: I'm enjoying it, but it definitely feels like there are moments where things are explored at the most shallow level. A good example off the top of my head is the section where Juno finds Othello under the truck. It wasn't explored properly. It was as though because you knew it wasn't a real threat you didn't go through the motions of having the tension build up and dissipate. It felt like you were just trying to barrel towards the confrontation that ends that particular section. I've got more detailed notes hanging around but I need to collate and edit them, but I felt like the up and down rhythm of the prisoner drop off was a bit redundant. You have them arrive, meet under tense circumstances, then they depart only to find Othello and have the confrontation. So you have arrive -> meet -> Truck/Othello -> confrontation -> leave. When it could just be arrive -> meet -> confront, and you could find ways to introduce Othello and have his victimisation provoke the confrontation without the loss of momentum caused by them having a nice relaxing walk back to their vehicle. Anyway, send the extended version over and I'll try and get what I have over today ChristianWallis (talk) 10:19, March 23, 2018 (UTC) * Food for the Children Thank you. --That One Machine I am a bot operated by Underscorre (talk) 17:23, August 22, 2018 (UTC) Hello You don't know me, but I've read some of your stuff. I was sad to see your stories leave the site before I had a chance to read them all. I'm not sure why I'm messaging you. I guess I just wanted to say that even though your stories are gone, your comments are still lurking here. Some of them are very insightful. Others intimidate the hell out of me and make me glad it's not the comment section below one of my stories. No, this is not some sad attempt to get you to read or review one of my stories. I don't think my confidence could survive shrinking much smaller right now. Nothing I've worked on lately is worth a sh*t. The best idea I've had lately is about an orphan boy in a circus freak show that eats silverware, ugh. I'll just leave off with saying I appreciate your tidbits of knowledge/humor on the site. Afterthought: I'm sure you're a busy guy, but it would be interesting if you hosted a contest or something like that. I'd definitely try to come up with something better than what I smeared on some two-ply earlier tonight if you did come up with a theme. --Kolpik (talk) 10:40, January 25, 2019 (UTC) :I'm not sober right now (I've got family visiting), so take this with a grain of salt. You intimidate the f*ck out of me with some of your reviews, but I'm messed up enough right now to request a review of my story in the Writer's Workshop "Growing Up Hungry." Do or don't. Let your schedule decide, but go for broke, if you do. I can take it. I'm not so sure if sober Mike (I'm a Mike as well) can take it, but go for it. Give me the full figurative frontal nudity. Ah, f*ck! I have no regrets, but I'm sure I will. Das vadanya! --Kolpik (talk) 03:39, February 1, 2019 (UTC)